Nyora Raceway in South Gippsland fired up on Saturday night December 12th with its first race meeting since the beginning of the Covid Pandemic. Regular Nyora patrons and race drivers all enjoyed a great night out with Nyora members winning five of the seven feature events later in the evening, Santa Claus making a visit and thirty-eight races filling the programme.
The season opening race meeting included a feature event for the Victorian Speedway Council Junior Standard Saloon competitors attracting race drivers from four clubs.
Brothers Owen (1 win) and Harry Cecil (2 wins) won most of the qualifying races with Blake Smith winning the final of the four qualifying races.
The ‘Covid Showdown’ event to end the evening included hard thought battles throughout the field with Owen Cecil taking the event victory in front of Smith, Rhys Meakins, Harry Cecil and Maddison Miles.
A large field of entrants in the Open Standard Saloon category competed in nine heat race events to determine the feature line-up. Some highlights included a masterful display from Daniel Stewart driving just above the racing line all the way around all race long to win a heat followed by Hanna Domburg.
Another highlight was Russell Hill defeating Rhys Lansdown twice as the two zipped in and out of the field working their way past other contenders.
In the feature event, Lansdown set about starting the club aggregate count off on the right foot. He took the lead early ahead of Stewart. As an incident further back in the pack caused a yellow flag stoppage, a coming together of Lansdown and Stewart potentially could have ended the charge for the race leaders.
Lansdown and Stewart restarted thankfully, and the battle continued with Lansdown defeating Stewart, Mark Miles, Mick Coomer and Russell Hill.
The up-to 1500cc Speedway Sedan Juniors Top Star division served up some very quick action dominated by the Alexandra Speedway Club entrants in the final. Jayden Bryant, Kiarna Barton and Rhys Meakins won the three qualifiers before Bryant took a terrific win in the final in front of last week’s Horsham Speedway winner Linken Paterson, Luke Cornfoot, Dylan Barrow and Bree Simpson.
Developing drivers in New Star grade of Juniors was dominated by the talented Jack Randall. Randall began last season in a 1200cc car and is now in a 1500cc machine in his second season. Randall won all three of the heat races before winning the feature race from Maddy Capon, both youngsters much improved since last season with first race rookie Jack Kershaw third ahead of Arthur Hutchinson and Rowdy Andreatta.
Standard Saloon Ladies action in the heats ended with Sara Benson winning all three in front of Courtney Meakins and Hanna Domburg. The feature race was more eventful with Victoria Champion Trish Dike making a pass on Domburg that finished with contact between the two cars. The pass was deemed illegal however the race continued with the penalty to be given at the end of the race, no matter where she finished Dike could not win.
Dike went on to pass Meakins and then Benson and greeted the chequered flag first before being advised she was penalised for the pass on Domburg. Benson was declared the winner from Meakins, Dike, Domburg and Sarah Price.
In Unlimited Sedan action the class Victorian Champion Warrick Taylor won all four races. The three qualifying runs and the final.
Taylor defeated Peter Cox, Frank Ramsdale, Daniel Unternahrer and Stan Brown.
Rounding out the complete nights results was the Sports Sedans with Josh Service the only driver to win two qualifiers whilst Brendan Miller, Scott Angus, Matt Brooks and Jamie Paull each won one.
In the final Angus who is a state champion in another category, took the win ahead of Service, Paull, Warrick Taylor who competed in two classes during the event and Brendan Miller.
It was a wonderful night for many reasons with motorsport fans getting the opportunity to see motorsport, albeit under social distancing conditions. Many happy faces after after a tough year.
Nyora thank the Club sponsors for this season:
Shannon’s Insurance
Miles Mechanical Pakenham
Total Autos Pakenham
Rip it Up Earthworks Bittern
Burson’s Pakenham
PRO1 Race Parts
Redde Detailing
Highline Racewear
Cut N’ Core
South East Paving
Tooradin Sports Club
ARP Earthworks
All Care Exhausts Pakenham
Bass Concreting
John Duff & CO – Shell
Mepstead Electrical
J Allcock Plumbing
ZT Carpentree
Ramsdale Wreckers
SS AG Services
Polly’s Auto Salvage
Sherlow’s Used Cars
Concept Trade Solutions
Metal Station Farming Products
Napier Photography
JW Bookkeeping
Sticky Biz Apparel
Cecil Excavations
Earth Link Electrical
Mornington Motors
ML Automotive
Peninsula District Towing
Somerville Motor Body Works
Ultimate Awards
BAM Inspect & Build
Pakenham Accident Repairs
BGN Auto Glass
Affordable Auto Salvage
Ripper Sticker
Taylor’d Fabrications
Russell Steel
Heartfelt Candles
Dandenong Pest Control
Pakenham Towing
Wise Steel Sales
Victorian Crane Trucks
EPH Group
Ends Release.
